Lakewood, CO Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 9.80.020(A)(2) provides that whenever a rodent infestation is caused by failure of the person having possession or control of a property to maintain it in a rodent-proof condition, extermination is the responsibility of the owner; when Code Enforcement or the owner or occupant finds a structure, building or vacant land has a rodent infestation, the owner or occupant must take immediate extermination measures and continue them until all evidence of the infestation, including infestation caused to adjoining properties, is eliminated. The duty reaches infestation the property causes on a neighbor's land, not only its own. Subsection (A)(3) separately bans feeding: it is unlawful to place, distribute, store, or scatter food, garbage, or any other attractant so as to constitute a lure, attraction, or enticement for rodents, though the code carves out an exception for baiting in the rodent extermination process, so setting out poison bait stations to kill rodents is not itself a violation.

Section 9.80.010 defines 'Rodent' as any variety of species of rats, mice, and/or other vermin, 'Rodent Harborage' as any condition which provides shelter or protection for rodents, thus favoring their multiplication, and 'Rodent Infestation' as the presence of rodents in numbers determined to cause a health or safety hazard to the occupants or the public. The same chapter's manure rules reinforce the rodent standard indirectly: § 9.80.020(A)(6) requires any manure pile be screened from view, treated so it does not attract flies, and removed from the property at least once every seven days, a related nuisance-control duty enforced through the same notice process.